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EXCLUSIVE… E STREET PARTNERS LAUNCHES: John Runyan, Craig Brightup, Thad Huguley and Rafe Morrissey have teamed up to create a new public affairs consortium that will combine lobbying, compliance, strategic communications, PAC management, PR and other services under one new brand. The new organization, E Street Partners, will operate out of the offices of Runyan Public Affairs, which is located at 8 E Street, SE in Washington. Patrick Dorton and Beth Dozier from the strategic communications firm Rational 360 will support the consortium by offering communications services to clients. The new public affairs group will be able to provide clients with a range of services, including legislative and executive branch lobbying, public relations and integrated communications services, coalition-building, grass-roots advocacy and strategic political action and PAC management services. Clients will be able to customize public affairs campaigns — both large and small — and access a roster of experienced professionals to address short- and long-term challenges.

“E Street Partners combines one-on-one attention with integrated services to target the most complex public affairs challenges — and get results,” Runyan said in a release. “Clients can turn to us for quick thinking and creative, comprehensive solutions from a strong bench of experienced policy veterans.” Runyan runs his own company, Runyan Public Affairs, while Brightup is the CEO of The Brightup Group. Huguley runs Huguley Consulting.

Those firms will continue to exist as separate brands and manage some existing business separately, but E Street is pursuing combined business going forward. Rational 360 will remain an independent firm as well and will offer services to some of E Street clients.

GEPHARDT INKS ASTEROID MINERS: Planetary Resources has signed the help of Gephardt Group Government Affairs to work on private activities in space and space exploration. The Washington state-based asteroid mining company is in the business of harvesting resources from asteroids in the earth’s orbit. To do so, they’re working on low-cost robotic spacecrafts. K&L Gates has lobbied for the client for about a year, and now they’re adding some science and technology muscle. Aside from former Rep. Richard Gephardt, Kyle Mulhall and Scott Brenner will also work on the account. Brenner formerly worked for the DHS, where he served as chief of external affairs for the Science and Technology Directorate.

GOOD WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON where it’s been 97 years since Congress overrode a presidential veto and passed the controversial Immigration Act of 1917. In the act, Congress banned “all idiots, imbeciles, feeble-minded persons, epileptics, insane persons; persons who have had one or more attacks of insanity at any time previously; persons of constitutional psychopathic inferiority; persons with chronic alcoholism; paupers; professional beggars; vagrants; persons afflicted with tuberculosis in any form,” as well as anarchists, and polygamists from immigrating. More controversially, Congress essentially banned all immigration from south Asia, southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands and the Middle East. Previously, only Chinese immigration had been forbidden by law. Send your lobbying news, gossip, tips and scoops to btau@politico.com. And keep up with PI on Twitter by following @ByronTau or @PoliticoPI.

NASDAQ OMX GROUP BRINGS ON FERGUSON STRATEGIES: The financial services corporation that owns NASDAQ and other European stock exchanges has hired Ferguson Strategies to take on a host of nonfinancial services issues. Listed on the registration with the LDA are mineral regulations, immigration issues (including H-1B visas), cybersecurity, tax reform and transparency and conflicts of interest in the proxy advisory industry. The group spends about $350,000 per quarter, and retains Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, Porterfield Lowenthal Fettig & Sears and Public Strategies Washington. Chris Jones and Adam Higgins will work on the account for Ferguson.

PCI HIRES GLASSIC, AUSTIN: The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America has made two new insurance policy hires. Tom Glassic is coming on board as vice president of policy and government relations, while Nicole Austin will be the new chief Republican House lobbyist, the association announced Wednesday. Glassic will be responsible for advising on international, federal and state insurance issues and lead PCI’s advocacy strategy with the Democratic members of Congress. Austin will serve as the chief House Republican advocate on issues including the National Flood Insurance Program and Dodd-Frank Act reforms, among others.

“The deep policy knowledge, longstanding relationships and rich experiences of these individuals will augment our Federal Government Relations Office and Policy Shop at a time when critically important issues to the P&C industry are under consideration in Washington,” said David Sampson, PCI’s president and CEO, in a statement. Glassic comes to the association from his position as of counsel at Sutherland Asbill & Brennan. Prior to that, he also served as senior insurance counsel to former Rep. Barney Frank at the Financial Services Committee. Austin most recently served as policy adviser in the Treasury Department’s Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program. In Congress, she served as Republican staff on theHouse Financial Services Committee; staff director for the Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity; and in the office of Rep. Judy Biggert.

IEW PAC HOSTS KICKOFF: VIEW PAC , Value in Electing Women, kicked off the year with a reception of over 150 supporters last night at Sonoma, raising over $200K. Thirty members from the House and Senate were in attendance, including honorary VIEW PAC Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Chairman Dave Camp, Chairman Fred Upton and the majority of GOP female legislators. Spotted in the crowd: Becky Anderson with Williams & Jensen, Sue Andres with Union Pacific, Maria Cino with Hewlett-Packard, Kathryn Lehman of Holland + Knight, Verizon’s Joanna McIntosh, Hon. Tom Reynolds of Nixon Peabody, Royal Roth of UPS, Judy Black of Brownstein Hyatt and Charlie Black of Prime Policy Group. Executive Director Julie Conway and board member Ashlee Reid Morehouse worked the successful event. "No group is more influential in bringing Republican women to Congress than VIEWPAC. As honorary chair, I am proud of the tremendous work they do to support such dynamic women from across America, especially those in the current election cycle. I look forward to continuing our work together and welcoming a new, outstanding group of Republican women to the 114th Congress,” said McMorris Rodgers. VIEW PAC, founded by female Republican members of Congress and professional women to provide a fundraising source for Republican women candidates running for the House and Senate, has helped to raise over $2,000,000 for Republican women candidates since inception in 1997.

RIGAS JOINS WISE: Communications veteran Laura Keehner Rigas has joined Wise Public Affairs, the firm announced this week. In her new role as vice president of strategic communications, Rigas will lead the firm’s strategic communications, digital marketing and media outreach efforts on behalf of the firm and its clients. She comes to Wise from her prevision position as national communications director for the American Conservative Union — the host and organizer of the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC. She has also held positions in the Bush administration — including stints as Department of Homeland Security press secretary, U.S. Department of Justice senior adviser and White House deputy associate director. “In Washington where there are thousands of communications professionals who promise to deliver, Laura is someone who has a record of delivering for employers from the highest levels of government to nonprofits, and now our clients will receive that same quality of counsel,” said Brian Wise, founder and managing partner of Wise PA.

CARDOZA JOINS FOLEY & LARDNER: Former Rep. Dennis Cardoza has joined the firm Foley & Lardner’s Washington office. In his new role, he’ll co-chair the firm’s federal public affairs practice with former Rep. Scott Klug. He joins firm the from Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, where he advised clients on legislative, regulatory and public affairs matters. Cardoza previously served as a Democrat representing California’s 18th Congressional District for five terms — from 2003 through 2012. “We are delighted to have Dennis join our firm,” said Foley chairman and CEO Jay Rothman. “Dennis demonstrated strong leadership on many important pieces of legislation during his time in Congress, and our clients will benefit greatly from his experienced counsel. He was known in Congress for his practical, business-oriented approach, which fits very well with Foley’s approach to addressing legal issues. I am confident our clients will find Dennis, Scott and the combined public affairs and legal team to be creative and powerful advocates for their positions in Washington.”

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OTTO JUMPS FROM HONDA TO BURSON: Jonathan Otto is leaving his position as senior public affairs specialist in the government relations department of Honda for a new job. He’ll be working in the public affairs and crisis practice at Burson Marsteller’s Washington offices, according to a note sent to reporters Tuesday. “My time at Honda has been well spent responding to your questions (some have been more pleasant than others), scheduling interviews (some I've been more enthusiastic about than others) and pitching stories (some have been more to your interest than others). Thank you for the first-rate learning experience and I hope we'll have the opportunity to work together in my new capacity,” he wrote. “I'll be around to support Honda until February 14 — and no, I'm not deliberately ‘breaking up’ with Honda on Valentine's Day — so please don't hesitate to reach out with any work related items between now and then.”

‘THE ADFERO EIGHT’: The Washington-based public affairs firm Adfero on Wednesday released the “Adfero Eight” — an annual list of the people, things and trends that will affect the way information is shared and influence is garnered in 2014 and beyond. The firm predicts that the “Smart Fork,” “Mr. Nice Guy” and “the fourth wall,” among other things, will have an impact in 2014. The list is here: http://bit.ly/1b28Fe5

YG NETWORK HIRES JOHNSON: YG Network — a nonprofit dedicated to broadening the next generation of conservative policies — has hired Stacey Johnson as chief of staff. Prior to joining the YG Network, Johnson served as the deputy chief of staff for Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.). She also served as communications director on Paulsen's 2008 campaign and as press secretary for Gov. Bob McDonnell on both his campaign and administration.

DEMS FLOAT PUBLIC FINANCING PROPOSAL: House Democrats on Wednesday unveiled a new election public financing bill that they hope will help curb the influence of K Street lobbyist and free-spending megadonors in congressional elections. Introduced by Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.), the bill would create a voluntary system of publicly financed House elections. Donations of up to $150 to congressional candidates would be matched at a rate of 6 to 1 — meaning a $50 check would turn into a $350 check. If candidates agreed to take only small donations, the match would increase to 9 to 1. Candidate who are able to raise more than $50,000 in small donations in the final 60 days of the election would be eligible for even more resources. “If you create a system that makes the small donors the linchpin of the system in terms of how members of Congress directly raise the funds for their campaigns, then it gives everyday citizens much more of a role — a leveraging role — in the funding of those campaigns,” Sarbanes said in an interview. More here: http://politi.co/1br7XBI

ELSEWHERE IN THE INFLUENCE WORD:

DEFENSE LOBBYING MAY PAY OFF IN THE LONG RUN: LYDIA DEPILLIS writes for WONKBLOG that a recent Post story shows lawmakers won’t cut expensive military programs, even when they’re deemed useless. She checked into whether lobbying numbers reflect the long-term payoff for those companies’ investments. She compared money spent on lobbying with money awarded in contracts for the biggest arms manufactures in a cool interactive chart: http://wapo.st/1fv0Ydl

SPOTLIGHT ON AN IP LOBBYIST: IPWatchdog sat down with American Continental Groups’ Marla Grossman to talk about the politics of intellectual property. Grossman, who represents clients with a pro-intellectual property position, talks about her outlook on patent litigation reform, IP reforms and copyright. http://bit.ly/1dqzOlj

GUN LOBBYIST IN HOT WATER: The president of the Gun Owners of America has sparked a race row after comparing "happy" Africans from Africa to "surly" African-Americans. Larry Pratt has come under fire after suggesting, on a radio show, that U.S. African-Americans could get a better "attitude" if they paid attention to the more-contented Africans from the African continent. http://nydn.us/1g2fPNb

Wheat Government Relations: American Association of Nurse Practitioners

NEW LOBBYING TERMINATIONS (Firm: Client (Type of Termination))

None

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